Ten years in the past, catastrophe struck my Google Drive folders. I used to be utilizing a third-party app to again up a specific folder — a folder that housed each single one in all my guide manuscripts — and one thing went terribly mistaken. With the unintentional test of a field, that folder was deleted on Google Drive. Though that was dangerous sufficient, the identical folder on my native drive was deleted as effectively.
Sure, it was a catastrophe, one which I may have averted had I not clicked a single checkbox in an app.
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Luckily, after an hour on the telephone with Google, they have been capable of restore the folder. Since then, I have been very cautious about which third-party apps I take advantage of and the way I take advantage of them.
If you wish to keep away from having to spend a day sweating out whether or not or not you’ll ever see these irreplaceable recordsdata once more, learn on as a result of I’ve a number of ideas that may assist.Â
Are you prepared?
1. Use a powerful password
Though this tip will not allow you to get well misplaced recordsdata or preserve you from deleting one thing you should not, it’s going to actually assist forestall somebody from getting access to your Drive account and taking or studying these recordsdata at will. When creating a brand new password for Google Drive, use a password supervisor and have it create a random password that’s at the very least twelve characters lengthy and not possible (or at the very least very difficult) to memorize. The stronger the password, the much less doubtless somebody will achieve entry to your account.
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On the identical time, I might suggest you think about including two-factor authentication into the combination, which provides one more layer of safety to your Google account.
2. Undergo Drive and never Docs
This tip may sound counter-intuitive or the obvious factor on the planet (relying on how you have been utilizing Google) however I counsel you at all times undergo Drive — and never Docs — to create your paperwork. Why? As a result of if you undergo Docs, you’ll be able to’t shortly place a doc the place you need it. In Drive, you’ll be able to navigate to a folder, click on New, after which create the doc, figuring out it’s going to exist in that folder. In Docs, you create a brand new file and it’ll default to the foundation folder, the place you then have to recollect to enter Drive and transfer it the place you want it. Should you preserve forgetting to maneuver these recordsdata, you may wind up with a chaotic mess of paperwork in your root folder, which may lead you to by chance deleting the file you most want.
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On the identical time, keep in mind — nevertheless you select to prepare your folders — to determine a logical construction that makes it very straightforward to know the place your recordsdata are positioned.
Talking of which…
3. Use the model historical past
You are going to make errors in your paperwork. Typically, these errors might be appreciable. If you’ve gone down the mistaken rabbit gap in a doc, you may be tempted to chuck it into the trash and begin over. Do not. As a substitute, lean into Google Drive’s model historical past, which allows you to revert a doc to a earlier state. As a substitute of shedding all of these fastidiously chosen phrases from again when the doc made sense…revert, revert, revert.
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One of many good issues about Google’s model historical past (apart from it being very straightforward to make use of) is that it might save quite a few situations of a doc from the time it was first created to the final edit. This function has saved my conceal on many events.
4. Again up
It ought to go with out saying that you could again up your Drive account. Or, at the very least again up the folders that comprise the extra necessary recordsdata. Should you at all times have an up-to-date native backup, ought to one thing go mistaken, you’ll be able to at all times add the folder again to Google Drive.Â
The way you again up your Google Drive folder will rely in your working system. Should you use MacOS or Home windows, you need to use the official Drive app. The issue with the official Drive app is that you just can not choose which folder from Google Drive to again up, which suggests it may again up all the pieces in your Drive account. That is effective if you do not have a considerable amount of information to again up.
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If, nevertheless, the contents of Google Drive would gobble up all your native storage, you could possibly choose to make use of an answer like Insync, which lets you choose a folder (or a number of folders) from Drive to maintain in sync in your native machine.
Don’t put this off. Ought to catastrophe strike (similar to what occurred to me), a backup can save your sanity.
5 Lock recordsdata
The Lock Recordsdata function will not forestall you from by chance deleting recordsdata from Drive however it’s going to preserve undesirable customers from altering the contents of these recordsdata. As soon as you have locked a file, nobody can edit or remark till it’s unlocked. Even higher, solely these customers with Editor permissions can unlock a file. This can be a small step you’ll be able to take to guard these treasured recordsdata from being modified.Â
To lock a file, right-click the entry in Google Drive and choose File Data > Lock. Within the ensuing pop-up, click on Lock and the file is protected from change and can stay so till it’s unlocked.
Additionally: Multi-factor authentication: The best way to allow 2FA and enhance your safety
With a modicum of warning, your Google Drive expertise might be free from disaster. In fact, nothing is 100%, however if you happen to observe these easy ideas, you are one step forward of errors, undesirable entry, or different disasters inside your Drive account.